Eric Lesser and Lawrence Prusak (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- October 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195165128
- eISBN:
- 9780199835751
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195165128.001.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Financial Economics
The mid-1990s saw the rise of an important movement: a recognition that organizational knowledge, in its various forms and attributes, could be an important source of competitive advantage in the ...
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The mid-1990s saw the rise of an important movement: a recognition that organizational knowledge, in its various forms and attributes, could be an important source of competitive advantage in the marketplace. Knowledge management has become one of the core competencies in today's competitive environment, where so much value in companies resides in their people, systems, and processes. This book examines a variety of important knowledge-related topics, some of which has been previously published in such journals as the Harvard Business Review, California Management Review, and the Sloan Management Review, such as the use of informal networks, communities of practice, the impact of knowledge on successful alliances, social capital and trust, narrative and storytelling and the use of human intermediaries in the knowledge management process. The book includes contributions from such leading thinkers as Lawrence Prusak, Dorothy Leonard, Eric Lesser, Rob Cross, and David Snowden. This book synthesizes some of the best thinking by the IBM Institute for Knowledge-Based Organizations, a think tank whose research agenda focuses on the management methods for deriving tangible business value from knowledge management and their real-world application.Less
The mid-1990s saw the rise of an important movement: a recognition that organizational knowledge, in its various forms and attributes, could be an important source of competitive advantage in the marketplace. Knowledge management has become one of the core competencies in today's competitive environment, where so much value in companies resides in their people, systems, and processes. This book examines a variety of important knowledge-related topics, some of which has been previously published in such journals as the Harvard Business Review, California Management Review, and the Sloan Management Review, such as the use of informal networks, communities of practice, the impact of knowledge on successful alliances, social capital and trust, narrative and storytelling and the use of human intermediaries in the knowledge management process. The book includes contributions from such leading thinkers as Lawrence Prusak, Dorothy Leonard, Eric Lesser, Rob Cross, and David Snowden. This book synthesizes some of the best thinking by the IBM Institute for Knowledge-Based Organizations, a think tank whose research agenda focuses on the management methods for deriving tangible business value from knowledge management and their real-world application.
Barry Stroud
- Published in print:
- 1984
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198247616
- eISBN:
- 9780191598494
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198247613.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
The thesis of scepticism is a thesis about the human condition: the view that we can know nothing, or that nothing is certain, or that everything is open to doubt. This book examines the sceptical ...
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The thesis of scepticism is a thesis about the human condition: the view that we can know nothing, or that nothing is certain, or that everything is open to doubt. This book examines the sceptical thesis that we can know nothing about the physical world around us. The author argues that the sceptical thesis is motivated by a persistent philosophical problem that calls the very possibility of knowledge about the external world into question, and that the sceptical thesis is the only acceptable answer to this problem as traditionally posed.On the basis of a detailed analysis of the sceptical argument advanced by Descartes, Stroud discusses and criticizes responses to scepticism by a wide range of writers, including J. L. Austin, G. E. Moore, Kant, R. Carnap, and W. V. Quine. In this discussion, Stroud is concerned with the significance of philosophical scepticism in three different respects.Firstly, he shows philosophical scepticism to be significant as opposed to insignificant or unimportant: the philosophical study of knowledge is not an idle exercise, and the comforting popular belief that we already understand quite well how and why philosophical scepticism goes wrong is simply not true.Secondly, Stroud argues for the significance of philosophical scepticism by defending it against the charge that it is meaningless or incoherent or unintelligible, and in doing so aims to articulate as clearly as possible what exactly it does mean.Thirdly, and most importantly, Stroud argues that philosophical scepticism is significant in virtue of what it signifies, or indicates, or shows: even if the sceptical thesis turned out to be false, meant nothing, or not what it seemed to mean, the study of scepticism about the the world around us would still reveal something deep and important about human knowledge and human nature and the urge to understand them philosophically. One aim of the book is to investigate how and why this is so. Engaging in a philosophical reflection about our knowledge of the external world in this way, Stroud argues, can also reveal something about the nature of philosophical problems generally and about philosophy itself; studying the sources of the philosophical problem of scepticism can yield some degree of philosophical understanding or illumination even if we never arrive at something we can regard as a solution to that problem.Less
The thesis of scepticism is a thesis about the human condition: the view that we can know nothing, or that nothing is certain, or that everything is open to doubt. This book examines the sceptical thesis that we can know nothing about the physical world around us. The author argues that the sceptical thesis is motivated by a persistent philosophical problem that calls the very possibility of knowledge about the external world into question, and that the sceptical thesis is the only acceptable answer to this problem as traditionally posed.
On the basis of a detailed analysis of the sceptical argument advanced by Descartes, Stroud discusses and criticizes responses to scepticism by a wide range of writers, including J. L. Austin, G. E. Moore, Kant, R. Carnap, and W. V. Quine. In this discussion, Stroud is concerned with the significance of philosophical scepticism in three different respects.
Firstly, he shows philosophical scepticism to be significant as opposed to insignificant or unimportant: the philosophical study of knowledge is not an idle exercise, and the comforting popular belief that we already understand quite well how and why philosophical scepticism goes wrong is simply not true.
Secondly, Stroud argues for the significance of philosophical scepticism by defending it against the charge that it is meaningless or incoherent or unintelligible, and in doing so aims to articulate as clearly as possible what exactly it does mean.
Thirdly, and most importantly, Stroud argues that philosophical scepticism is significant in virtue of what it signifies, or indicates, or shows: even if the sceptical thesis turned out to be false, meant nothing, or not what it seemed to mean, the study of scepticism about the the world around us would still reveal something deep and important about human knowledge and human nature and the urge to understand them philosophically. One aim of the book is to investigate how and why this is so. Engaging in a philosophical reflection about our knowledge of the external world in this way, Stroud argues, can also reveal something about the nature of philosophical problems generally and about philosophy itself; studying the sources of the philosophical problem of scepticism can yield some degree of philosophical understanding or illumination even if we never arrive at something we can regard as a solution to that problem.
Andrei A. Znamenski
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195172317
- eISBN:
- 9780199785759
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195172317.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
The increased attention given to shamanism in humanities studies and in popular culture since the 1960s is usually associated with two names: Mircea Eliade and Carlos Castaneda. Eliade, a ...
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The increased attention given to shamanism in humanities studies and in popular culture since the 1960s is usually associated with two names: Mircea Eliade and Carlos Castaneda. Eliade, a Romanian-born philosopher and religious scholar, released Le Chamanisme et les techniques archaiques de l'extase, the first grand treatise on shamanism, which became an academic bestseller after its revised translation was published in English as Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy (1964). Also an immigrant, Castaneda published an experiential novel, The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge (1968), he captivated the minds of numerous spiritual seekers and served as an inspiration for many literary emulators. Eventually, Castaneda became one of the informal apostles of the “New Age” community. This chapter discusses the contribution of Eliade and Castaneda to shamanology and places them in the context of a time that contributed to the rise of interest in shamanism.Less
The increased attention given to shamanism in humanities studies and in popular culture since the 1960s is usually associated with two names: Mircea Eliade and Carlos Castaneda. Eliade, a Romanian-born philosopher and religious scholar, released Le Chamanisme et les techniques archaiques de l'extase, the first grand treatise on shamanism, which became an academic bestseller after its revised translation was published in English as Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy (1964). Also an immigrant, Castaneda published an experiential novel, The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge (1968), he captivated the minds of numerous spiritual seekers and served as an inspiration for many literary emulators. Eventually, Castaneda became one of the informal apostles of the “New Age” community. This chapter discusses the contribution of Eliade and Castaneda to shamanology and places them in the context of a time that contributed to the rise of interest in shamanism.
Ned Block
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195171655
- eISBN:
- 9780199871339
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195171655.003.0012
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
This chapter criticizes the property dualism argument. It argues that one version of the argument conflates two different notions of mode of presentation: the “cognitive mode of presentation,” which ...
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This chapter criticizes the property dualism argument. It argues that one version of the argument conflates two different notions of mode of presentation: the “cognitive mode of presentation,” which is defined in terms of its role in determining reference and/or explaining cognitive significance; and the “metaphysical mode of presentation,” which is a property of the referent in virtue of which the cognitive mode of presentation plays its semantic and cognitive roles. It also examines John Perry's (2001) book, which discusses both Max Black's argument and the Knowledge Argument as well as some arguments drawn from Stephen White's (1986) essay on the topic and arguments inspired by unpublished papers by White.Less
This chapter criticizes the property dualism argument. It argues that one version of the argument conflates two different notions of mode of presentation: the “cognitive mode of presentation,” which is defined in terms of its role in determining reference and/or explaining cognitive significance; and the “metaphysical mode of presentation,” which is a property of the referent in virtue of which the cognitive mode of presentation plays its semantic and cognitive roles. It also examines John Perry's (2001) book, which discusses both Max Black's argument and the Knowledge Argument as well as some arguments drawn from Stephen White's (1986) essay on the topic and arguments inspired by unpublished papers by White.
David B. Audretsch, Max C. Keilbach, and Erik E. Lehmann
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195183511
- eISBN:
- 9780199783663
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195183511.003.0011
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
This chapter presents a synthesis of the discussions in the preceding chapters. It argues that entrepreneurship makes a unique contribution to economic growth by permeating the knowledge filter and ...
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This chapter presents a synthesis of the discussions in the preceding chapters. It argues that entrepreneurship makes a unique contribution to economic growth by permeating the knowledge filter and commercializing ideas that would otherwise remain uncommercialized. Entrepreneurial opportunities are not at all exogenous, or given, in the Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship. Rather, they are endogenously generated by the extent of investments in new knowledge. Thus, a context rich in knowledge will generate more entrepreneurial opportunities than a context with impoverished knowledge.Less
This chapter presents a synthesis of the discussions in the preceding chapters. It argues that entrepreneurship makes a unique contribution to economic growth by permeating the knowledge filter and commercializing ideas that would otherwise remain uncommercialized. Entrepreneurial opportunities are not at all exogenous, or given, in the Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship. Rather, they are endogenously generated by the extent of investments in new knowledge. Thus, a context rich in knowledge will generate more entrepreneurial opportunities than a context with impoverished knowledge.
David B. Audretsch, Max C. Keilbach, and Erik E. Lehmann
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195183511
- eISBN:
- 9780199783663
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195183511.003.0006
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
This chapter asks whether the Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship also has a spatial component in that the startups tend to cluster within geographic proximity to knowledge sources. It ...
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This chapter asks whether the Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship also has a spatial component in that the startups tend to cluster within geographic proximity to knowledge sources. It examines whether the role of location in transmitting knowledge spillovers to entrepreneurial startups is heterogeneous, and varies systematically across different scientific and academic fields and for different spillover mechanisms. Evidence provides general support for the Localization Hypothesis. Universities with greater investment in knowledge and where the regional investment in knowledge is greater tend to generate more technology startups, suggesting that university spillovers tend to be localized and spatially constrained. However, the contribution of geographical proximity to accessing and absorbing university spillovers is apparently highly nuanced and varies systematically across different scientific fields and academic disciplines as well as different spillover mechanisms. The exact role that geographic proximity plays in facilitating university spillovers depends on the degree to which the type of knowledge and actual spillover mechanism are based on tacit, rather than codified knowledge.Less
This chapter asks whether the Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship also has a spatial component in that the startups tend to cluster within geographic proximity to knowledge sources. It examines whether the role of location in transmitting knowledge spillovers to entrepreneurial startups is heterogeneous, and varies systematically across different scientific and academic fields and for different spillover mechanisms. Evidence provides general support for the Localization Hypothesis. Universities with greater investment in knowledge and where the regional investment in knowledge is greater tend to generate more technology startups, suggesting that university spillovers tend to be localized and spatially constrained. However, the contribution of geographical proximity to accessing and absorbing university spillovers is apparently highly nuanced and varies systematically across different scientific fields and academic disciplines as well as different spillover mechanisms. The exact role that geographic proximity plays in facilitating university spillovers depends on the degree to which the type of knowledge and actual spillover mechanism are based on tacit, rather than codified knowledge.
Eyjólfur Kjalar Emilsson
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199281701
- eISBN:
- 9780191713088
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199281701.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
The main focus in this chapter is the relationship between Plotinus' ontology and his epistemology. It is argued that at the level of Intellect being and knowledge coincide, that to be is to be known ...
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The main focus in this chapter is the relationship between Plotinus' ontology and his epistemology. It is argued that at the level of Intellect being and knowledge coincide, that to be is to be known or thought. It is further argued that this is a necessary consequence of a principle in Plotinus' philosophy claiming that to know something as it is in itself is to know that thing from its internal activity, and that this kind of knowledge is impossible unless the activity of the knower coincides with the activity constituting the being known.Less
The main focus in this chapter is the relationship between Plotinus' ontology and his epistemology. It is argued that at the level of Intellect being and knowledge coincide, that to be is to be known or thought. It is further argued that this is a necessary consequence of a principle in Plotinus' philosophy claiming that to know something as it is in itself is to know that thing from its internal activity, and that this kind of knowledge is impossible unless the activity of the knower coincides with the activity constituting the being known.
Raymond Plant
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199281756
- eISBN:
- 9780191713040
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199281756.003.0009
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics, Political Theory
This chapter has as its main focus the nature and scope of markets in neo‐liberal thought. The first part of the chapter looks at the critique of economic planning of the economy and of government ...
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This chapter has as its main focus the nature and scope of markets in neo‐liberal thought. The first part of the chapter looks at the critique of economic planning of the economy and of government intervention in the economy more generally developed by neo‐liberal thinkers. The second part of the chapter deals with the issue of whether in a nomocratic order allied to free markets and rational utility maximization can be made to work without some sense of an orientation to the common good or a diffused sense of civic virtue. Such ideas fit rather badly into neo‐liberal perspectives because they look to be more teleocratic, oriented towards some conception of the good rather than a nomocratic order based upon rules. The chapter looks at recent ways in which neo‐liberal have sought to answer this question of what might be called social capital.Less
This chapter has as its main focus the nature and scope of markets in neo‐liberal thought. The first part of the chapter looks at the critique of economic planning of the economy and of government intervention in the economy more generally developed by neo‐liberal thinkers. The second part of the chapter deals with the issue of whether in a nomocratic order allied to free markets and rational utility maximization can be made to work without some sense of an orientation to the common good or a diffused sense of civic virtue. Such ideas fit rather badly into neo‐liberal perspectives because they look to be more teleocratic, oriented towards some conception of the good rather than a nomocratic order based upon rules. The chapter looks at recent ways in which neo‐liberal have sought to answer this question of what might be called social capital.
Roman Frydman and Michael D. Goldberg
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691155234
- eISBN:
- 9781400846450
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691155234.003.0005
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Macro- and Monetary Economics
This chapter examines the imperfect knowledge imperative in modern macroeconomics and finance theory. It argues that the Rational Expectations Hypothesis (REH) has nothing to do with how even ...
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This chapter examines the imperfect knowledge imperative in modern macroeconomics and finance theory. It argues that the Rational Expectations Hypothesis (REH) has nothing to do with how even minimally reasonable profit-seeking individuals forecast the future in real-world markets. It attributes REH's insurmountable epistemological difficulties and widespread empirical problems to a single, overarching premise that underpins contemporary macroeconomics and finance theory: nonroutine change is unimportant for understanding outcomes. It also suggests that contemporary behavioral finance models rest on the same core premise as their REH-based counterparts. Finally, it introduces an alternative approach to modeling individual behavior and aggregate outcomes: Imperfect Knowledge Economics, which opens macroeconomics and finance models to nonroutine change and the imperfect knowledge that it engenders.Less
This chapter examines the imperfect knowledge imperative in modern macroeconomics and finance theory. It argues that the Rational Expectations Hypothesis (REH) has nothing to do with how even minimally reasonable profit-seeking individuals forecast the future in real-world markets. It attributes REH's insurmountable epistemological difficulties and widespread empirical problems to a single, overarching premise that underpins contemporary macroeconomics and finance theory: nonroutine change is unimportant for understanding outcomes. It also suggests that contemporary behavioral finance models rest on the same core premise as their REH-based counterparts. Finally, it introduces an alternative approach to modeling individual behavior and aggregate outcomes: Imperfect Knowledge Economics, which opens macroeconomics and finance models to nonroutine change and the imperfect knowledge that it engenders.
Roman Frydman and Michael D. Goldberg
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691155234
- eISBN:
- 9781400846450
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691155234.003.0007
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Macro- and Monetary Economics
This chapter considers an alternative approach to economic analysis, Imperfect Knowledge Economics (IKE), and introduces a model of asset prices and risk that has explicit mathematical ...
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This chapter considers an alternative approach to economic analysis, Imperfect Knowledge Economics (IKE), and introduces a model of asset prices and risk that has explicit mathematical microfoundations and yet remains open to nonroutine change. The IKE model consists of representations of individuals' preferences, forecasting behavior, constraints, and decision rules in terms of a set of causal (often called “informational”) variables, which portray the influence of economic policy, institutions, and other features of the social context. It also entails an aggregation rule and processes for the informational variables. The chapter examines irregular swings in asset prices and their relationship to financial risk. It also presents an IKE account of asset price swings before concluding with an analysis of contingent predictions of long swings and their compatibility with rationality.Less
This chapter considers an alternative approach to economic analysis, Imperfect Knowledge Economics (IKE), and introduces a model of asset prices and risk that has explicit mathematical microfoundations and yet remains open to nonroutine change. The IKE model consists of representations of individuals' preferences, forecasting behavior, constraints, and decision rules in terms of a set of causal (often called “informational”) variables, which portray the influence of economic policy, institutions, and other features of the social context. It also entails an aggregation rule and processes for the informational variables. The chapter examines irregular swings in asset prices and their relationship to financial risk. It also presents an IKE account of asset price swings before concluding with an analysis of contingent predictions of long swings and their compatibility with rationality.
Katarina Juselius
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691155234
- eISBN:
- 9781400846450
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691155234.003.0011
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Macro- and Monetary Economics
This chapter examines the relationship between speculation in the currency markets and aggregate activity in the real economy by drawing on the Structural Slumps theory and the theory of Imperfect ...
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This chapter examines the relationship between speculation in the currency markets and aggregate activity in the real economy by drawing on the Structural Slumps theory and the theory of Imperfect Knowledge Economics (IKE). It first considers exchange rate determination in two models, one based on the Rational Expectations Hypothesis (REH) and the other on the theory of IKE, before discussing some general principles for how to structure the observed persistence in the data, and how these principles can be used in the cointegrated vector autoregressive model. The chapter also explains how foreign currency speculation under IKE interacts with a customer market economy where profit shares are adjusting to fluctuations in real exchange rates and where the natural rate of unemployment is a function of nonstationary real long-term interest rates.Less
This chapter examines the relationship between speculation in the currency markets and aggregate activity in the real economy by drawing on the Structural Slumps theory and the theory of Imperfect Knowledge Economics (IKE). It first considers exchange rate determination in two models, one based on the Rational Expectations Hypothesis (REH) and the other on the theory of IKE, before discussing some general principles for how to structure the observed persistence in the data, and how these principles can be used in the cointegrated vector autoregressive model. The chapter also explains how foreign currency speculation under IKE interacts with a customer market economy where profit shares are adjusting to fluctuations in real exchange rates and where the natural rate of unemployment is a function of nonstationary real long-term interest rates.
William Taussig Scott and Martin X. Moleski
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195174335
- eISBN:
- 9780199835706
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019517433X.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
In view of his work in the humanities, Polanyi was transferred from the Chemistry Department at the University of Manchester to a chair in the Faculty of Economics and Social Studies in 1948. Thanks ...
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In view of his work in the humanities, Polanyi was transferred from the Chemistry Department at the University of Manchester to a chair in the Faculty of Economics and Social Studies in 1948. Thanks to his work on the Gifford Lectures (1951–1952) and after ten years of research and writing, Polanyi was able to consolidate his fiduciary program in Personal Knowledge. In this work, he argued that impersonal, objectivist interpretations of science destroy fabric of the scientific community and society as a whole; he proposed that all knowledge is "either tacit or rooted in tacit knowing," so that objectivity is understood as the accomplishment of responsible subjects who strive to serve transcendent ideals of truth.Less
In view of his work in the humanities, Polanyi was transferred from the Chemistry Department at the University of Manchester to a chair in the Faculty of Economics and Social Studies in 1948. Thanks to his work on the Gifford Lectures (1951–1952) and after ten years of research and writing, Polanyi was able to consolidate his fiduciary program in Personal Knowledge. In this work, he argued that impersonal, objectivist interpretations of science destroy fabric of the scientific community and society as a whole; he proposed that all knowledge is "either tacit or rooted in tacit knowing," so that objectivity is understood as the accomplishment of responsible subjects who strive to serve transcendent ideals of truth.
Timothy Williamson
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199264933
- eISBN:
- 9780191718472
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199264933.003.0012
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
This chapter develops analogues of the anti-luminosity considerations for probabilistic concepts in place of the concept of knowledge. Such analogues generalize the original argument and act as a ...
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This chapter develops analogues of the anti-luminosity considerations for probabilistic concepts in place of the concept of knowledge. Such analogues generalize the original argument and act as a test of its soundness and significance. It is argued that anti-luminosity arguments of Knowledge and its Limits are robust. They are not symptoms of an isolated pathological quirk in the ordinary concept of knowledge. Rather, they can be replicated from a probabilistic starting point, and reflect the general predicament of creatures with limited powers of discrimination in their attempt to learn from experience.Less
This chapter develops analogues of the anti-luminosity considerations for probabilistic concepts in place of the concept of knowledge. Such analogues generalize the original argument and act as a test of its soundness and significance. It is argued that anti-luminosity arguments of Knowledge and its Limits are robust. They are not symptoms of an isolated pathological quirk in the ordinary concept of knowledge. Rather, they can be replicated from a probabilistic starting point, and reflect the general predicament of creatures with limited powers of discrimination in their attempt to learn from experience.
Colin G. Calloway
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195340129
- eISBN:
- 9780199867202
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195340129.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, American History: early to 18th Century
A core component of colonial projects in both the Highlands and Indian North America was to convert the tribal inhabitants, who were assumed to exist at an inferior stage of development. This chapter ...
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A core component of colonial projects in both the Highlands and Indian North America was to convert the tribal inhabitants, who were assumed to exist at an inferior stage of development. This chapter surveys depictions of tribal life in the Highlands and Indian country to illustrate how contemporaries described tribal peoples on both sides of the Atlantic in almost identical terms. It examines the attitudes and philosophies of the colonizers, their missionary and educational efforts, and the responses of Highland and Indian peoples to such conversion attempts. The Lowland-based Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge was active in mission work in both the Highlands and in Indian country. Scottish Enlightenment theories about human development exerted an important influence on emerging American Indian policy and the thinking of Thomas Jefferson.Less
A core component of colonial projects in both the Highlands and Indian North America was to convert the tribal inhabitants, who were assumed to exist at an inferior stage of development. This chapter surveys depictions of tribal life in the Highlands and Indian country to illustrate how contemporaries described tribal peoples on both sides of the Atlantic in almost identical terms. It examines the attitudes and philosophies of the colonizers, their missionary and educational efforts, and the responses of Highland and Indian peoples to such conversion attempts. The Lowland-based Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge was active in mission work in both the Highlands and in Indian country. Scottish Enlightenment theories about human development exerted an important influence on emerging American Indian policy and the thinking of Thomas Jefferson.
Jennifer Lackey
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199219162
- eISBN:
- 9780191711824
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199219162.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
This chapter examines a further objection that has been raised to the view defended in this book — an objection that is grounded in a widely accepted thesis about the norm governing proper assertion. ...
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This chapter examines a further objection that has been raised to the view defended in this book — an objection that is grounded in a widely accepted thesis about the norm governing proper assertion. According to the Knowledge Norm of Assertion, or the KNA, a speaker should assert that p only if she knows that p. Given that the counterexamples to the Belief View of Testimony in Chapter 2 rely on speakers who offer assertions in the absence of knowledge, it has been argued that such examples fail because the speakers in question violate the KNA. This chapter argues, however, that the KNA is false. An alternative norm of assertion is then developed — the Reasonable to Believe Norm of Assertion, or the RTBNA — that not only avoids the problems afflicting the KNA, but also more fully and coherently accommodates our general intuitions about both asserters and their assertions.Less
This chapter examines a further objection that has been raised to the view defended in this book — an objection that is grounded in a widely accepted thesis about the norm governing proper assertion. According to the Knowledge Norm of Assertion, or the KNA, a speaker should assert that p only if she knows that p. Given that the counterexamples to the Belief View of Testimony in Chapter 2 rely on speakers who offer assertions in the absence of knowledge, it has been argued that such examples fail because the speakers in question violate the KNA. This chapter argues, however, that the KNA is false. An alternative norm of assertion is then developed — the Reasonable to Believe Norm of Assertion, or the RTBNA — that not only avoids the problems afflicting the KNA, but also more fully and coherently accommodates our general intuitions about both asserters and their assertions.
Jonardon Ganeri
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199652365
- eISBN:
- 9780191740718
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199652365.003.0014
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, History of Philosophy
This chapter analyses the philosophy of mind in Nyāya and Vaiśeṣika thinkers. The lead idea in their work is that occupying a first‐person stance has centrally to do with the bearing of reason of the ...
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This chapter analyses the philosophy of mind in Nyāya and Vaiśeṣika thinkers. The lead idea in their work is that occupying a first‐person stance has centrally to do with the bearing of reason of the whole of one's mental life. The chapter outlines Praśastapāda's five arguments against the thesis that mental states are properties of the body (and so, indirectly, against materialism). The arguments are all attempts to give voice to a single thought: that the relationships of inhabitation and endorsement that are implied by the idea of owning a mental state, and so of occupying a first‐person stance, are fundamentally different in kind from any relation of physical exemplification. This phase in the argument is one of negative dialectic, its function to show that the apparent simplicity of the Cārvāka view that mental properties are just properties of the physical body comes at a high price when the debts of explanation it incurs are appreciated..Less
This chapter analyses the philosophy of mind in Nyāya and Vaiśeṣika thinkers. The lead idea in their work is that occupying a first‐person stance has centrally to do with the bearing of reason of the whole of one's mental life. The chapter outlines Praśastapāda's five arguments against the thesis that mental states are properties of the body (and so, indirectly, against materialism). The arguments are all attempts to give voice to a single thought: that the relationships of inhabitation and endorsement that are implied by the idea of owning a mental state, and so of occupying a first‐person stance, are fundamentally different in kind from any relation of physical exemplification. This phase in the argument is one of negative dialectic, its function to show that the apparent simplicity of the Cārvāka view that mental properties are just properties of the physical body comes at a high price when the debts of explanation it incurs are appreciated..
Robert Van Gulick
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199267989
- eISBN:
- 9780191708268
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199267989.003.0009
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
Few arguments in the recent philosophy of mind have generated as much discussion or controversy as Frank Jackson's Knowledge Argument (KA), and none has had a more surprising history. Having offered ...
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Few arguments in the recent philosophy of mind have generated as much discussion or controversy as Frank Jackson's Knowledge Argument (KA), and none has had a more surprising history. Having offered the KA in 1983 and ably defended it for fifteen years against a wide variety of objections, Jackson did an about-face in 1998 and disavowed it. His rejection of the argument is essentially coupled with the acceptance of another controversial if widely held view, namely the Representational Theory of Consciousness or at least of Conscious Sensory Experience (RTS), which he regards as the sole means to defeat the KA and avoid the cognitive illusion that generates its intuitive appeal. This chapter begins by briefly reviewing objections to the KA. It considers where, if anywhere, Jackson's own present critical view fits in the logical geography of options. It then turns to the question of whether the RTS is in fact either necessary or sufficient for refuting the KA.Less
Few arguments in the recent philosophy of mind have generated as much discussion or controversy as Frank Jackson's Knowledge Argument (KA), and none has had a more surprising history. Having offered the KA in 1983 and ably defended it for fifteen years against a wide variety of objections, Jackson did an about-face in 1998 and disavowed it. His rejection of the argument is essentially coupled with the acceptance of another controversial if widely held view, namely the Representational Theory of Consciousness or at least of Conscious Sensory Experience (RTS), which he regards as the sole means to defeat the KA and avoid the cognitive illusion that generates its intuitive appeal. This chapter begins by briefly reviewing objections to the KA. It considers where, if anywhere, Jackson's own present critical view fits in the logical geography of options. It then turns to the question of whether the RTS is in fact either necessary or sufficient for refuting the KA.
Greg Walker
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199283330
- eISBN:
- 9780191712630
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199283330.003.0010
- Subject:
- Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
This chapter examines the trio of political dialogues published by Thomas Elyot in 1533-4: Pasquil the Plain, Of the Knowledge Which Maketh a Wise Man, and The Doctrinal of Princes, each of which is ...
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This chapter examines the trio of political dialogues published by Thomas Elyot in 1533-4: Pasquil the Plain, Of the Knowledge Which Maketh a Wise Man, and The Doctrinal of Princes, each of which is a direct commentary on the political events of those years. Each examines the responsibility of counsellors to speak truth plainly to power, and they each, through analogy and example, edge closer towards a dangerous discussion of the role of counsel in the court of a tyrant.Less
This chapter examines the trio of political dialogues published by Thomas Elyot in 1533-4: Pasquil the Plain, Of the Knowledge Which Maketh a Wise Man, and The Doctrinal of Princes, each of which is a direct commentary on the political events of those years. Each examines the responsibility of counsellors to speak truth plainly to power, and they each, through analogy and example, edge closer towards a dangerous discussion of the role of counsel in the court of a tyrant.
David J. Snowden
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- October 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195165128
- eISBN:
- 9780199835751
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195165128.003.0013
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Financial Economics
Narrative techniques reveal the patterns of an organization and are in turn the means by which it can be patterned. Narrative is a powerful tool within organizations, but it is not susceptible to the ...
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Narrative techniques reveal the patterns of an organization and are in turn the means by which it can be patterned. Narrative is a powerful tool within organizations, but it is not susceptible to the engineering approaches that have dominated management practice in the last few decades. This chapter presents some cautionary comments and an overview of some of the newly developing areas of narrative work. It reflects the experience of the Institute for Knowledge Management and, more recently, the Cynefin Centre for Organizational Complexity in developing and patenting methods, tools, and techniques for narrative work in organizations.Less
Narrative techniques reveal the patterns of an organization and are in turn the means by which it can be patterned. Narrative is a powerful tool within organizations, but it is not susceptible to the engineering approaches that have dominated management practice in the last few decades. This chapter presents some cautionary comments and an overview of some of the newly developing areas of narrative work. It reflects the experience of the Institute for Knowledge Management and, more recently, the Cynefin Centre for Organizational Complexity in developing and patenting methods, tools, and techniques for narrative work in organizations.
Pablo F. Gómez
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781469630878
- eISBN:
- 9781469630892
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469630878.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Latin American History
This book examines the strategies that Caribbean people used to create authoritative knowledge about the natural world, and particularly the body, during the long seventeenth century. It reveals a ...
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This book examines the strategies that Caribbean people used to create authoritative knowledge about the natural world, and particularly the body, during the long seventeenth century. It reveals a hitherto untold history about the transformation of early modern natural and human landscapes, one that unfolds outside existent analytical frameworks for the study of the Atlantic world. The book introduces some of the earliest and richest known records carrying the voices of people of African descent, including African themselves, to change our understanding of the dynamics and intellectual spaces in which early modern people produced transformative ideas about the natural world. Caribbean cultures of bodies and healing appeared through a localized epistemological upheaval based on the experiential and articulated by ritual specialists of African origin. These changes resulted from multiple encounters between actors coming from all over the globe that occurred in a social, spiritual, and intellectual realm that, even though ubiquitous, does not appear in existent histories of science, medicine, and the African diaspora. The intellectual leaders of the mostly black and free communities of the seventeenth century Caribbean defined not only how to interpret nature, but also the very sensorial landscapes on which reality could be experienced. They invented a powerful and lasting way of imagining, defining and dealing with the world.Less
This book examines the strategies that Caribbean people used to create authoritative knowledge about the natural world, and particularly the body, during the long seventeenth century. It reveals a hitherto untold history about the transformation of early modern natural and human landscapes, one that unfolds outside existent analytical frameworks for the study of the Atlantic world. The book introduces some of the earliest and richest known records carrying the voices of people of African descent, including African themselves, to change our understanding of the dynamics and intellectual spaces in which early modern people produced transformative ideas about the natural world. Caribbean cultures of bodies and healing appeared through a localized epistemological upheaval based on the experiential and articulated by ritual specialists of African origin. These changes resulted from multiple encounters between actors coming from all over the globe that occurred in a social, spiritual, and intellectual realm that, even though ubiquitous, does not appear in existent histories of science, medicine, and the African diaspora. The intellectual leaders of the mostly black and free communities of the seventeenth century Caribbean defined not only how to interpret nature, but also the very sensorial landscapes on which reality could be experienced. They invented a powerful and lasting way of imagining, defining and dealing with the world.
